The brave Jasper, never one to shy from a righteous adventure, trudges into the cave's abyss. He reassures himself aloud that he will find the creature that has terrorized the nearby town, increasingly, almost to protest and drone-out the cacophony of clangs and screeches further into the void.

Then a light appears. A faint end to the tunnel. He approaches and emerges to a scene unrecognizable to anyone back in Winchester. Two formidable buildings with tops beyond Jasper's sight made up the walls of the end of the tunnel, and armored carriages veered across the passageway before him. He took in the unforgiving excitement and chaos of the scene for a few minutes then collapsed in the nearest tavern restroom. He breathed, then resumed his quest.

"Have you seen the thief of joy that plagues local children with despondence and listlessness?", he asks bar patrons. As he struggles to crowd out distracting new magic and dialects, he can focus in on a few possible suspects: a network of drug dealers or a public media agency that spews viral negativity. He ventures to learn more.

Then one worthwhile distraction caught Jasper's eyes, heart and soul. A woman dressed in his era's noble garments walked past the tavern window. He follows her immediately to connect.

"Fair maiden, have you also come here for the cure to hopelessness?"

"I never thought of it that way but, yes, I think I found it," she responds. She agrees to meet after sunset as long as Jasper "doesn't have any medieval weapons on him," so he waits.

As Jasper waits for Claire on a riverwalk, all the ugliness and hurt bustling of the metropolis starts to wind down, replaced with a warm red sky and glimpses of nature waking up. Now the gentle colors of the sunset and cool evening breeze begin to replace the earlier chaos, Jasper sits with an assured trust that Claire will have the answer he needs.